Cheonggyecheon stream restoration merchants (Seoul)
Seoul removed a highway and restored the Cheonggyecheon stream. Merchants displaced by the project were offered space in the Garden Five shopping centre outside the centre, where about 350 remained by 2014.
About 6,100 merchants were to be relocated; Asia Economy, February 2014.
Status As of February 2014: eviction suits against Garden Five merchants; about 350 Cheonggyecheon merchants remained.
- Not stated in the sources reviewed — No source reviewed names who gained.
- Cheonggyecheon merchants — About 6,100 were to be relocated; about 350 remained by 2014. Asia Economy
- Garden Five merchants — Eviction suits for unpaid rent and fees. Asia Economy
What happened
Seoul's Cheonggyecheon restoration removed a highway and restored a stream. The relocation of merchants to a shopping centre outside the city centre, Garden Five, was part of the project; a paper in Sustainability (MDPI, 2016) described the relocation as having failed.
The paper reported 60,000 shops, 220,000 merchants and more than 3,000 street vendors in the Cheonggyecheon area and 42,000 meetings held.
About 6,100 merchants were to be relocated. The private-sale contract rate in 2009 was 16.85%. Asia Economy reported in February 2014 that eviction suits had been filed against merchants who could not pay rent and fees at Garden Five, and that about 350 Cheonggyecheon merchants remained.
- 2009Private-sale contract rate at Garden Five: 16.85%
- 2014Eviction suits against Garden Five merchants who could not pay rent and fees; about 350 Cheonggyecheon merchants remain (Feb)
- 2016Sustainability paper describes the relocation to Garden Five as having failed
How it looked
Shown
- The project was presented as restoring the stream.Seoul Metropolitan Government
Recorded
- About 6,100 merchants were to be relocated; the private-sale contract rate was 16.85%; about 350 Cheonggyecheon merchants remained at Garden Five in 2014.
- Eviction suits were filed against merchants who could not pay rent and fees at Garden Five.
- 60,000 shops, 220,000 merchants and more than 3,000 street vendors in the area; 42,000 meetings; the relocation to Garden Five failed.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2014–Outcome not on recordEviction suits at Garden FiveNot stated · Civil · → Merchants at Garden Five who could not pay rent and fees
Asia Economy reported in February 2014 that eviction suits had been filed against Garden Five tenants who could not pay rent and fees; its headline referred to 77 merchants forced out. Asia Economy
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
Court
- Unclear Eviction suits at Garden Five: outcome not on record.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the restoration received the 10th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design from Harvard GSD in September 2010.
- None on record Seoul's own account of the merchants' relocation: no source reviewed gives it.
Did the harm stop?
Not on record.
Who paid?
Merchants who relocated to Garden Five and could not pay rent and fees, per Asia Economy (February 2014).
Sources
Press and investigations
- 가든파이브 입주 상인 77명 강제 퇴거 (Garden Five: 77 tenant merchants forcibly evicted)Asia Economy · 2014-02
Researchers
- Cheonggyecheon restorationSustainability (MDPI) · 2016
- Restoring Seoul's Cheonggyecheon RiverHarvard Korea Institute · 2010-09